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Saturday, September 28, 2013

Pure Imagination: Snowflakes Or Jigsaw Puzzles

In this series, we've talked about the overall environmental-ish illusion ... the illusion of perpetually bad environmental news, the illusion of the purity of tribal motivations, and the illusion of the Friends as a benevolent public-interest organization. Now, we want to talk about the illusion of freedom and individuality.

Are you a snowflake or a jigsaw puzzle piece? It's a strange question, but there is a point. Both snowflakes and jigsaw puzzle pieces are unique. But the individuality of a snowflake is derived from its unplanned development whereas the individuality of a jigsaw puzzle piece is imposed upon it by a larger order.

In actuality, this is a very fundamental question about your views of liberty. Should we allow ourselves to be transformed by our leaders ... shaped into more ordered, rational beings for the benefit of society ... and let our institutional bureaucracies create an authoritarian system that we fit into? Believing that people should "fit" into a free society designed by higher-ups leads to a terrible logic -- that we The People do not realize what true freedom is, and we have to be coerced into doing what is good for us.

Read the article below from the Plumas County News in California. It's a familiar story. Everywhere, municipal planners are coercing us into being jigsaw puzzle pieces for some bigger plan. I find one quotation particularly striking,

Senior Planner Becky Herrin, who represented the planning department at the meeting, thanked everyone for attending, but added that she wished they had been “here for the last seven years.”

In other words, the default position of the Plumas County Planning Department is that, unless the public is watching like a hawk, planners will work to impose a restrictive outside order on the community ... in the name of the community.
_____________________________________________________________

Fearing that Plumas County’s new general plan could lead to a loss of private property rights, a group of concerned citizens wants to trash the document and begin again.

With the Plumas County supervisors just weeks away from approving the updated general plan, the Indian Valley Citizens for Private Property Rights appeared before the Planning Commission on Jan. 17 and laid out their arguments.

About 60 people packed the small conference room at the planning department with most standing, and some spilling into the hallway.

Their spokeswoman, Carol Viscarra, gave a PowerPoint presentation outlining the group’s concerns and highlighting why the new general plan is Agenda 21 in disguise.

Agenda 21 is a 300-page document adopted in 1992 at United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The document is designed to be a blueprint of how jurisdictions worldwide should move toward sustainable economic growth that simultaneously protects and renews environmental resources.

Explaining that she was not a political activist, but rather an emergency room nurse and third-generation rancher, Viscarra was nervous. But “I believe it’s my civic duty” to come forward, she said.

After several months of page-by-page review, she said it’s her conclusion that the general plan “seems to mirror almost verbatim Agenda 21.”

There has been a growing theory that Agenda 21 is a conspiracy to take away individual property rights and move people off the land to urban centers.

During her presentation, Viscarra presented a map that showed vast expanses of California as off-limits to the public, wide swaths that were treated as buffer zones to be heavily regulated, with only zones around San Francisco, Los Angeles and Fresno that remained unrestricted. “Eighty-six percent of the land will be set aside as wildlife corridors,” Viscarra said.

Because 71 percent of Plumas County’s land mass is already in the public domain, Viscarra said Plumas County is an ideal locale for Agenda 21 to take root. “Be informed. Be courageous. Read about Agenda 21 and study it for yourselves,” Viscarra told those gathered. “The stealth of this organization is upon us in Plumas County.”

She said that the local planning commission members and supervisors “emphatically deny” any relationship with Agenda 21, and she believes them. She attributes the inclusion of Agenda 21 language in the general plan to the consultants that help jurisdictions write planning documents and organizations that provide grants.

She said the words “Agenda 21” never appear in such documents, but words such as “sustainability,” “open space,” “mixed-use housing” and “sustainable development,” which she describes as the “most egregious,” are all indicators of its influence.

“They will never, ever call it Agenda 21,” she said.

Viscarra said that the process began in Plumas County back in 2002 as local leaders embarked upon Vision 2020, with the aid of outside grants. There were meetings and scoping sessions and language terms such as sustained growth and development became more common.

She said that in the county’s general plan update, the words “open space” are used 121 times, “sustainable” 77 times and “the county shall” is used 430 times. She said that the general plan also has “a lot of references to climate change” another popular theme in Agenda 21.

Viscarra said that timber regulations, which restrict forestry practices in the county, are a good example of how Agenda 21 is already being implemented without people being aware.

Addressing the ranchers in the room, she said, “If you’re not worried, it’s because you’re not paying attention.”

She added, “I looked at the general plan through the prism of a rancher, but this should be a concern to all businesses.”

Applause greeted the conclusion of her presentation.

B.J. Pearson, a former county supervisor and developer in the eastern portion of the county, said, “This is one of the best presentations I have ever seen,” and suggested that she should make the presentation in each district.

Sheriff Greg Hagwood agreed and described the presentation as “one of the most succinct and accurate” that he had seen.

“I thought I would spend the bulk of my time protecting people against burglars,” Hagwood said. Instead, he said he found himself protecting people “from their own government. I encourage the Board of Supervisors to put strong language in the general plan regarding private property rights.”

Many in the audience echoed Viscarra’s concerns about private property rights and the new general plan.

“My understanding is that this plan doesn’t need to be approved until 2015,” Sheila Groethe said. “I ask you to trash this and write a new general plan appropriate to Plumas County.”

As some of the comments began to degenerate and one man said implementing Agenda 21 to was tantamount to treason, County Counsel Craig Settlemire, who had attended the meeting, stepped in.

“Everyone here is working to uphold our oaths and the Constitution,” he said.

Senior Planner Becky Herrin, who represented the planning department at the meeting, thanked everyone for attending, but added that she wished they had been “here for the last seven years.”

The planning department had held multiple meetings throughout the process including meetings in each community. She said that when the meeting was held in Indian Valley no members of the public attended.

Her department is now in the process of writing responses to all of the comments that have been submitted for the environmental document associated with the general plan. She said many accuse the general plan of going too far, while others believe that it isn’t restrictive enough. When the document is complete, a hearing will be scheduled before the Board of Supervisors.

How this latest protest impacts the process is unclear. The deadline for filing comments has passed, but during the Jan. 17 meeting, Planning Commission Chairwoman Betsy Schramel invited those present to put their concerns in writing.

145 comments:

Wow. Great article from plumas county, just like here, but I think that video is the most important video about political science that I've ever seen. I never knew about positive and negative liberty, but it makes so much sense. Hard to understand some of those English guys in the video, but I still liked it.

Last Thursday afternoon, Lower Tavern Eastsound, WA ., Janet Alderton shows up with others, car in parking lot with California government plates. So who with from California would show up in Washington state. Apparently on out of state business here? Its a long drive for what?

Was this an official California state vehicle with state license plates (meaning, official state government plates, not public plates)

Watch the county video session from a few weeks ago, the NM presentation to council. Janet Alderton sits alone in the front row, paying close attention, writing notes.

Alderton was the lead donor that drove the Machine campaign war chest, beginning December 2012. The PDC filings show that she and her husband each made independent maximum contributions to each candidate and that their contributions were the first to be recorded.

She was the prime mover of the Machine campaign. She was the prime mover on behalf of the FOSJ in shaping the CAO with Shirene Hale. She was given extraordinary preferential access to the process and this is documented and easy to demonstrate.

She is a senior board member of the Friends.

She and her husband are often angry and rude to others in public, and her antics are well known around East Sound and some of her encounters during Saturday markets confronting community supporters of Charles Dalton are the stuff of legend.

If you don't think we're part of California ,then you have not been paying attention for the last 20 years. Think of it as a colony . Our rulers are there and they send their people here to help us find the way.

You can come to the islands from anywhere, Californians are welcome as are those from Vermont or the South Sudan.

Some come because the rural character and unique communities and incredible diversity of creativity and intellect that makes this place sparkle. Some come for the natural environment. Some come because they love BOTH and recognize the synergy of community, economy and environment that makes this place so special.

And then there are the eco-terrorists who project their own sense of self loathing to a general hatred of humankind and seek to destroy what the rest of us love.

Janet Alderton is unwell and needs help. But in her current capacity she is a danger, both to herself and others and needs to be dealt with.

Great post and video, TH.According to the Capitol Press the Plumas County saga began when the State Of California determined that the "resource protections in their old general plan were insufficient". Sound familiar? Plumas County, according to the Capitol Press, is 94% open space with a declining population. Which raises the question, given those parameters, what level of "Protection" might be deemed sufficient?. Sound familiar? I hereby submit a grant proposal to the TH's grant granting research wing, the Trojan Turkey. Let's compare ecological metrics on private Vs public land in SJC, and further compare managed, ie farmed or occupied private land to fallow private land. I have a sneaking feeling the results would surprise many. But all this begs the question raised by Mr. Berlin. Using his metrics, no matter what the justification, even if private land ownership and use in SJC or Plumas county was causing demonstrable harm to the commonweal, coercion inevitably becomes it's own evil. By the by, I remember in the 1980's American environmentalists often referenced the USSR as a model of sustainability and "protection" No pesky public disclosure rules or engaged citizenry to slow down common sense progress toward utopia, eh comrade? Only to find after the fall that in this, as in so many other spheres, the primacy of the Soviet state had created space for yet another big lie--the glossy exterior hid the greatest environmental crimes our world has ever seen, from the Aral sea disaster to the Siberian heavy industrial ooze pits, to wanton mixing of nuclear waste in pit run used for municipal building projects. Coercion past points of demonstrable and agreed harm, ie, thou shalt not kill, or not dump toxic waste, doesn't work, and doesn't even achieve its stated goals. If we were, say, to straight up ban agriculture in SJC, the environmental impact would be marginal or even negative. But back to my Trojan Turkey request, we can test this hypothesis. Let's compare our working farmlands with those, say, on Decatur or Shaw Islands that have been abandoned for some decades.Yes the American environmental community has done great things, from the Cuyahoga river to Love Canal. But, as another other great political thinker, Eric Hoffer has it, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” And from Jean Cocteau, himself a pretty fair thinker, on or off the smack, Jean Cocteau“The purity of a revolution can last a fortnight. That is why a poet, the revolutionary of the soul, limits himself to the about-turns of the mind. ” Ah well, back to work.

The problem with Agenda 21 discussions is that they come off being very Glenn Beck-ish, whereas the points being made are true. No one needs to look at agenda 21; look at the curriculum of planning programs in our major universities. Agenda 21 is simply the manifestation of the idiocy that has been taught in these programs for 50 years. Planner-speak. Planner-thought. Empty land good. People bad. Make people live in cities to punish them.

So long as we put people with this mindset in charge of our lives, we will have the same results. Plans that weigh pounds of paper. Planning departments that constantly need more "capacity" to try to understand what's in the pounds of paper, and to make more.

We started in a particularly disadvantaged position, with a "planner" who had no clue about much of anything, but soon realized that she had to begin to spout all the planning gibberish, but forgot the need for organizational principles and basic English language skills.

Please don't scare the locals with reports of Janet the Prime Mover. She is overly-energetic and, sadly, sincere, but is a dithering idiot. (Cookie sheet water flow demonstration, anyone? Raising hand in Council session, "Call on me!" "me!" "me!"). Of course, the True Believers are probably the most dangerous to our way of life. They know what's best for us. They will relentlessly tell us so. What is it about the bay area that breeds these attitudes? Between Dehlendorf on San Juan and Alderton on Orcas, seems like Lopez is the safest island to live on.

Janet may be a dithering idiot but a dithering idiot with way too much improper and preferential access to the creation of the CAO, driving the fundraising for the Machine election campaign and Chief Gadly in the National Monument gang. The intelligent crazies are probably using her a shill, who knows. Who cares.

But she is a poster child for all the other dithering idiots, and even some of the more quiet intelligent fanatics.

Don't we know what the perp wall looks like now? Do we need to remake the roster for all to see?

Good for you Janet. You go girl. You keep writing checks. We'll keeping opening the doors for you. Just keep us informed. Off you go.

Great video.So we now have a president who has correctly said our constitution is a charter of negative liberties. But he believes in the concept of positive liberties when he goes on to say "It says what state and federal governments can't do to you, but it doesn't say what government must do on your behalf."

What was the National Monument meeting about? I thought "nothing will happen to affect residents." "We're just protecting the handful of parks and bunch of offshore rocks that are public land already." So why meetings? Just waiting for other shoe to fall, because this whole project seemed a little like the Emperor's new clothes. Any mention of limiting human access to our local parks?

Good morning-- TH has dropped off the keys to understanding what TrustIslanders!, TH and CSA are fighting in the San Juans. We are not up against a small, local group of EcoZealots. UN Agenda 21 is a plan that is being implemented on a global scale. It is being fought in communities throughout the US. Please stand up and educate yourself. We cannot protect our liberties and community without the help from all of you. YOU are all we have standing between EcoTyranny and a well balanced community that is based on trusting your neighbor.

Where to start? The following site is full of information that you will find relevant to our fight:

http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/

This video is well worth the time. Rosa Kiore explains the real agenda of UnAgenda 21:

ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) is the organization that is implementing UNAgenda21. You will never see them refer to Agenda 21. The following is their Charter which was re-written in 2011. The ultimate seat of power for this regionalization of local government is Bonn, Germany.

The following is a statement of purpose taken from the above ICLEI Charter:

The Association shall serve as an international representative for its members and program participants by providing advocacy before national and international governments, agencies and organizations and multilateral bodies to increase their understanding and support for local sustainable development and environmental protection activities. Through such advocacy, the Association will work to achieve an effective division of responsibilities and resources for sustainable development and environmental protection between the various spheres of government.The Association shall promote, and ask its individual members to adopt, the following Earth Charter Principles to guide local action:(1) Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.(2) Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.(3) Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.(4) Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future generations.(5) Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.(6) Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.(7) Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.(8) Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.(9) Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.(10) Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.(11) Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.(12) Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.Charter 1.6 - Representation MandateCharter 1.7 - PrinciplesPage 5 of 12(13) Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.(14) Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.(15) Treat all living beings with respect and consideration. (16) Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.The Association shall develop, and encourage its members to use, a framework for measuring performance in the area of sustainable development and environment.

Sound Utopian--well it is of course it is. Why am I doubtful about the outcome such ideas? Mainly because only a certain blessed few know how to take the wheel and steer us to the blessed land--we all know how that turns out!

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”Thomas Jefferson

The following is a statement of purpose taken from the above ICLEI Charter:

The Association shall serve as an international representative for its members and program participants by providing advocacy before national and international governments, agencies and organizations and multilateral bodies to increase their understanding and support for local sustainable development and environmental protection activities. Through such advocacy, the Association will work to achieve an effective division of responsibilities and resources for sustainable development and environmental protection between the various spheres of government.The Association shall promote, and ask its individual members to adopt, the following Earth Charter Principles to guide local action:(1) Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.(EXCEPT HUMANS)(2) Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.(NO HUMANS ALLOWED)(3) Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.(YES, YOU CAN ALL PARTICIPATE IN YOUR OWN DEMISE)(4) Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future generations.(CONDEM AND CONFISCATE)(5) Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.(RESTORATION IS NOT REQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH GMA).(6) Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.(THIS IS A VERY BIG TOOL WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE SCIENCE TO RELY ON)(7) Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.(THINK MAO IN CHINA)(8) Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.(WIDE NO GO ZONES)(9) Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.(BETTER HIDE YOUR GOODS)(10) Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.(I WONDER WHO DEFINES EQUITABLE?)(11) Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.(12) Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.(NO DISCRIMINATION EXCEPT FOR THE MINORITIES AND TRIBES)Charter 1.6 - Representation MandateCharter 1.7 - PrinciplesPage 5 of 12(13) Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.(YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING)(14) Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.(BRAIN WASH EARLY)(15) Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.(VEGAN ONLY CAN BE HERE) (16) Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.(IN THE MEANWHILE YOU STEAL ALL THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE WORKED FOR. PEACE???)The Association shall develop, and encourage its members to use, a framework for measuring performance in the area of sustainable development and environment.(THEIR METRICS FOR AN EQUITABLE COMMUNITY)

(12) Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.

I guess this means that tribes can still build resorts in estuaries, right?

I take the point, indeed the Alinksy play book has been played against us and we have allowed ourselves to be played. But don't hold that against old Sly Saul.

Read your Machiavelli, your Sun Tzu, your Frontinus and so forth. Saul Alinksy is for the ages and his writing will stand the test of time as one of the most brilliant tactical thinkers in history.

But the Agenda 21 clowns no more own Alinsky than they do Sun Tzu.

So read your Alinksy. And turn the tables. One of the fascinating things about Alinksy is that many of his organizing concepts are best suited to leverage the voice of those will little power against those with great power, sometimes with remarkable success.

Does that suggest anything? It does to me. The interests using Alinsky against us are in the power position. That says to me that using Alinksy's tactics against the Machine may be highly effective.

Those in power have great difficulty being mocked. Mocking is a political tool used to level out the power dynamic. Look at the Trojan Heron. Lots of folks are honing their mocking skills against the Machine and taking it to the street. Knowing satire had an impact on our recent elections here, let there be no doubt.

The "precautionary principle" is a total BS theory that the coercive utopian Luddites want to apply to all aspects of our lives. Their mantra is "x must be proven safe before we will allow society to use x". It is a sledge hammer covered with a silk case meant to turn back the clock to the pre Industrial era. The latest IPCC Climate Report will amp up the lust by the EcoNazis to ban individual cars, prohibit eating meat, and depopulate the Islands in order to make them a vital part of the Pacific Coast Wildlands preserve. There is NO, I repeat NO conspiracy theory crap here. These fanatics publicly make their desires known in the left/liberal/progressive blogs and comment threads. There is no nightmare you can dream up that isn't actively discussed, and probably has a 501(c)3 dedicated to advancing the evil.

"United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) scientists, looking to increased weather instability due to climate change and increased future global populations, are sounding the alarm (pdf) about our unsustainable food system. They are recommending that over-consuming rich nations, particularly the U.S. and Europe at least, halve their consumption of animal protein to prevent destruction of our natural world due to water, land and air pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Why complain? Since 2006 SJC residents have had the right of initiative and referendum. This means we don't have to take ANY c**p from County Government. Too lazy to organize? Well then, it's your own fault.

Quite correct. As has been stated here ad nauseum the Agenda will manage you unless you organize to manage the Agenda.

If that means learning more about Saul Alinski's rules of power, start reading.

Active management of the county agenda is being put in place, its a process. It took a long time get to this sorry condition it will take time to get a handle on it. But the tools, political will and resources are here now. Before they weren't. That's a sea change.

“This is just the beginning of a dialogue with our partners in the northwest,” Salazar said. “It is important that we build consensus from the ground up as our nation develops a 21st century conservation agenda."

ICLEI-USA, the US branch of the global organization that works to implement Agenda 21 at the local level, has a number of members in Washington State. Many of them signed up and and pay dues believing they would receive technical assistance on energy conservation and transportation. Maybe. San Juan County is not on the list, however there are plenty of stories that ICLEI materials are circulated and easily available to staff within the departments. No need to arouse the curious.

Well if the council (former) can pass stupid resolutions that "recognize the critical nature of global warming" on the say so of the UN, let's get them to 1) repeal that resolution from 2008 since it was based on a flawed logic, then 2) recognize that we are soverign and will not recognize any policy, mandate or other from the UN.

@4:40 PMFrom Shireene Hale deposition MARCH 19, 2012 Q. The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. Are you familiar with that? A. No. Q. I don't know how they pronounce their acronym. I think it's ICLEI. Do you know what it stands for? A. No. Q. Have you had any seminars on sustainable development and that sort of -- A. I've attended seminars on low impact development practices and storm water management practices and ways to minimize the impact of land use and development. : I would like to put this in as an exhibit so that Shireene can read it.

(PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT Y MARKED FOR IDENTIFICATION.)

Q. (BY) This is an organization that requires a membership. And at the bottom of the page it lists 32 Washington cities or counties that are members of this organization. I would like to know if you have communicated with any of those city planning staff or county planning staff or have copied any of their regulations. A. Oh, I'm sure. When we're working on various planning projects and trying to figure out how other jurisdictions are approaching issues, we sometimes talk with their planners. We sometimes look at their regulations. Sometimes share information on how we're approaching different problems. So, yes, I'm sure we have communication with some of these counties and their planners.

I see that the Park Service "over reacted" and shut down the road to the beach in an attempt to close the National Park. Should we expect the Gov't to shut down the ferries in an attempt to close the National Momument?

And in further news. Tina Whitman is giving a FREE workshop, with support from OPALCO, to preschool and elementary school teachers at Orcas Library. As usual, Tina fails to mention that she is the science director at the friends of the san juans.

"The Government shutdown has resulted in the National Park Service issuing a statement that the parks in San Juan County are “closed.” Not that programs are closed or the manned interpretative centers are closed, but closed in the sense that “Visitors may not access the park on foot, bike, or horse during the closure, even if they park outside the park.”

"Due to the lapse in appropriated funds, all public lands managed by the Interior Department (National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, Bureau of Land Management facilities, etc.) will be closed. For more information, FAQs, and updates, please visit ww.doi.gov/shutdown."

About a thousand rocks and some old light houses are now closed. The San Juan Islands National Monument is now closed until further notice. You bet it's real.

Think of it this way. If the "community listening" meetings that were held last week were held this week? Well, they would be canceled and the federalis conducting them, furloughed. They are home today counting flowers on the wall.

What a devastating blow to our tourism based economy. Maybe Sen. Ranker can help.

Ahh yes,Usual tactics of Libtard Democrats - close the parks and send their media drones to show stories of crying kids being turned away because the mean republicans are trying to kill old people and starve widows...but close the EPA? Stop Foreign Aid? stop grants to the LIO or MRC or CD? OH NO NO NO...gotta close parks...

When will we find out that Peg Manning and Ed Kilduff have been passed over for the MRC in favor of obvious hacks that Jamie-I'm-told-what-to-do-by-Rea-because-I'm-not-a-man Stephens demands be placed there - and by he demands, I mean Rea demands...Jamie...you're an embarrassment - how long until we can elect Brian McClarren?

@7:04When did you ever think Jamie was a man? I have it on good authority that his balls were removed long ago and have been in Rea's leather-chained wallet ever since.I can't imagine what it's like to be so utterly emasculated.

I'm so damn mad. The immediate response from the Gov is to take steps to make the "people" hurt (close the parks, etc.) I'm so glad that the WWII vets stormed the barricades at the WWII Memorial site (who was going to arrest a 90 year old vet who was the reason for the memorial to be there?) Who wants to join me for a walk in the park, time for a little civil insubordination in this country/county.

Ah fer cryin' out loud. Jamie Stephens is just a little left coast version of John Boehner, who is a total right wing wimp on Cruz control.

Here is reality. Parks and museums are non-essential. Air traffic controllers and air craft carriers are essential. There's no argument there, the shutdowns are based on orderly contingency plans developed far in advance, open to anyone who wants to look.

And the foaming radical wing of the Republican Party would just as soon sell off the parks to the Koch Brothers for strip mining and call it deficit reduction.

Congress cut off funding by refusing to pass a continuing resolution. Automatically, nonessential federal services are shut down. NASA, EPA, parks, BLM and more. Overall, about 40% of the federal government went on furlough as of Tuesday.

You don't need to talk to Vouri. You need to talk to Larsen, Murray and Cantwell.

Obviously, it makes sense to close parks but it's also a classic ploy to have the photos of crying kids outside the zoo not being able to get in. Be sure that 60% of government is still ongoing and that that includes a bunch of people whose vital importance is highly questionable.

Which is why Milquetoast Boehner tried to float a new bill to reopen the parks and other "essential services" having discovered the true meaning of the current public confidence in His House of Cards, now collapsing.

So, be comforted. Soon Kevin's Monument will once again be open to crying children and widows, thanks to the Republican Party.

The house of cards is the $16 trillion dollar debt Obama/Reid/Pelosi have sunk us into...wait until you see the health plans are unaffordable and your only choice is the "penalty" oh wait, the SUPRA said it was a tax...but hey keep goin' libtard it's working well for you!

Libtard - noun /lib-tar-d/: dolts who keep voting democrats into power and then wonder why their taxes are raised.: dolts who fail to see the connection between democrats and eco-fascism.: dolts who can't understand the reason Ranker, Zee, Lyshall, Byers, Lovel were all supported by democrats.: dolt who loses their job to an illegal immigrant and continues to vote democrats into power: dolts who ignore the lesson of Detroit and continue to vote democrat: all members of the LIO, MRC, and CD

1 billion year from now, when the sun is 10% hotter and brighter as it starts to burn helium in addition to hydrogen, and as the seas begin to boil off, and as the macro fauna perishes, and as the earth generally reaches the end of its habitable phase for all but microorganisms again, the Hales will still be working at the county planning stormwater projects and the latest CAO buffers.

Libtard - noun /lib-tar-d/: dolt who never contimplates the significance of every employee at Ecology, EPA, WDFW, MRC, LIO, CD, FOSJ being a democrat.: dolt who complains about the dictatorial Obama decree making the SJ's a national monument while simultaneously voting him and his ilk into power.

I just read on Facebook that if you step foot on American Camp or English Camp, you will be issued a citation for federal trespass. Kind of a dry run for what this place will be like once the Friends et al get their way.

OK, all you lovely people who supported National Monument status, what say you now?

Oh yes, let us turn over all our lands to the Fed or lessor government, how's that going for ya, anyway? Not so good?

I think we would all be a whole lot happier without this FOSJ organization biting at the heels of our every footstep, without this organization we would live free of looking behind and to the side, and the other side, even side ways communications "I'm not thinking of your tree cutting for firewood, but can I kinda have had my eye on that dead one over there?"

The park closure is a perfect example of all the negative stuff FOSJ does to this place.

Let us all get rid of this "organization."

It won't open a park, but it will help give the land you own back to you.

The Heron needs to award a tee-shirt to the commenter who finally identified Shireene Hale: Moaning Mabel!! How could we not have seen it?

And the Council needs to get OSHA inspectors into that Planning Commission room to take readings. Subjecting innocent people to the painfully screeching voice of the Pro Tem chair, the painfully slow and flat droning style of the planner pinch-hitter, the unselfconcious hypocrisy spouted by the Friends lawyer, capped by the dithering of the apparently unmedicated Dehlendorf: all of this could people to run screaming from the room, ears bleeding.

Those heavy, hollow, ringing steps of Birkenstocks trudging up the stairs, the leather wallet chain jingling, the strap-on straps being tightened...and Jamie Stephens with a ball-gag on curled in a ball crying...just another sick and twisted night on Lopez...

Interesting with all the misuse of conflicts principles lately that the very Friends who have raised the questions never seem to have a problem suing the County and being on committees. Indeed, more than one Friend staffer being on MRC committee for more than a decade when the committee in question doles out grant funds to the Friends. No conflict there. Just enough money to pay people salaries, etc. I'm sure that this will be the very next topic of the Dehlendorf/Loring touring conflict of interest circus.

4) The Department of Interior is ran by democrats with funds appropriated by republicans who bought most of the land

5) Shirene Hale has no idea what planet she's on but she's working really hard on that and promises to produce a matrix very soon

6) The San Juan National Monument is closed until further notice because democrats passed obamacare at midnight when no one was watching while republican retirees howled about protecting their medicare and Bush prescription drugs

4) Lopez is the safest island to live on for radical democrats and women who wish they were men...especially Jamie Stephens

4) The Department of Interior is ran by democrats with funds appropriated by republicans who bought most of the land

5) Shirene Hale has no idea what planet she's on but is sure it needs wetland protection buffers

6) The San Juan National Monument is closed until further notice because democrats passed obamacare at midnight when no one was watching encouraged by those in the country illegally, or on welfare,on disability, or on their third year of unemployment.

There is plenty to complain about with the government shutdown, but the national monument designation didn't change the impact - the lands were BLM before the designation and are BLM today. Being a monument didn't make them any more or less impacted.

Update: just looked at the BLM's Shutdown FAQ (http://www.doi.gov/shutdown/fy2014/upload/BLM-FAQ.pdf). I think we can still go hike at Cattle Point:

"All recreation facilities, including campgrounds, boat ramps etc., will be closed. If it is a non-developed recreational destination with no controlled access, you may visit. However, there will be no services and there will no non-emergency services available."

Too bad the "no controlled access" bit doesn't apply to South Beach. What, they gotta guard the bathroom? Or is it the beach? Maybe its the driftwood. Who knows, but the yellow tape, cones and "keep out" sign at the hed of Pickett's Lane sure are offensive.

@5:52 No, I assure you, there will be absolutely no loyalty oaths or religious tests for the Planning Commission on my watch.

People complaining about Planning Commission members' conflicts of interest clearly do not understand the limited role and authority the Planning Commission has, what the law says about conflicts of interest in this case, and what advice has been provided by our legal counsel.

Actually, I'm fibbing. I believe they *do* completely understand, they are just trying to raise a fuss to distract and confuse.

Actually, I wish there was a whole lot more fun in it...TH posters DO a great job, but it is obvious the machine gang will play every card, will deal at the lowest level to win.

And, admit it, they do win; most of the time.

But not this time. It is clear passing land off for government control is going to get you in a total mess.

Just another control freak, this time named Salazar, will rule over the land you used to freely run on with your dog.

How is that "necessary" grassland reconstruction going down there at South Beach? Rip the naturally seeded trees out, kill the rodent feed for the foxes and big birds...oh sure, all is going well with the environmental studies the effort to return to days long gone.

A lot a nonsense.

A waste of money and time "correcting" a few trees that wanted to grow in a grassland, and a bunch of ground living animals that really don't need Federal Park employee supervision.

The MRC, the LIO, The CD, the FOSJ, Ron Zee, Linda Lyshall, Rosenkotter, the Hales - these are the problem, they they give exactly two shits about what any of you have to say, why?Because they're smarter than you,know what's best for the planet, and they have unchallenged authority to invade your privacy, steal your property, and trample on your civil liberties; and they do so because most of the public knows nothing of them and could care less, so they continue to scam and scheme and fill their pockets with tax payer money because most of the public would rather watch dancing with the stars than become informed and involved.Most of the public are completely clueless and so fall for tags and affiliations, that's the only explanation for Jamie Stephens, a completely un-talented barely literate toady of all the a fore mentioned.

Almost 100 post. Mostly about the fed shut down,the Hales, or someone else involved in all of this. For 20 years we have Agenda 21 that has been put into place, it is in every part of our lives. It clearly states that it wants people out of rural lands, wants to redistribute wealth, and reduce the population of the planet. It talks clearly about the vision of the future. Living in the city and mass transit. As humans we don't seem to be able to see really bad things that come at us, we can't think about it. The housing bubble was so obvious ,in hind sight. What happened to the Jews in WW2 seems so obvious now, that they should have seen it coming.One way to meet the goals of redistributing wealth,,move everyone out of rural areas,and reducing the population of developed countries would be to create a really big crisis. Think about the headlines and how many of them could fulfill the stated goals of Agenda 21. And yet the comeback is always that it's just a conspiracy theory . They have had 20 years to brainwash ,spin, and study how humans react. This is not about saving the fishes , it's about what it's been about for centuries. Control and power.

What is perhaps most ironic about all this, is that Agenda 21 is really about globalization.

Of course it is. Harmonize and unify local land use policy and regulation all over the world. There is no conspiracy, its wide open. What we see here we also see in stories out of Northern Queensland in Australia, Ireland, Spain, Canada, many places.

Meanwhile, over the same several decade period, wealth on a globalized scale is becoming increasingly concentrated into an unbelievably powerful, unstable, unsustainable plutocracy. That process is accelerating.

All taking place at the same time wages have fallen, millions have been gulled and sucker punched in artificial and globalized market asset bubbles only to be bought out at ten cents on the dollar, while really weird long term local comprehensive plans are pounded into place all over the world with the same template.

Is Agenda 21 about wealth distribution? Oh, it sure is. Its about wealth concentration at the top. While claiming to be a force for "environmental justice." There's a sucker born every minute.

ANYONE in america that thinks they will benefit from wealth redistribution is in for a suprise. If it is used to help the poor, it will be the worlds poor. no one in america is poor by world standards. Most likly it will go where it has gone for years. To those who control the centeral banks. The PRTVATELY owned and controled central banks.

The global economy is highly derivative. There are two bubbles yet to pop before it all falls down. Those two bubbles are intimately connected because the decision-makers and special interests are the same.

Bubble #1 - Sovereign debtBubble #2 - The one percent

Meanwhile, in the United States, hunger has been eradicated, until now. Shame on us.

When those and any other bubbles pop it will make all the UN goals easy to reach. I am sure its not planned that way, but how handy is it that a collapse will meet the goals of the agenda 21? Reduce the population, cut down on greenhouse gases,redistribute wealth, and get people to live in cities that can provide for them. And watch them.

Once again, Heronistos y Heronistas, its Swearin' Heron Friday! And we're right at the 100 comment mark, great work!

What free prizes tonight? Is it Door #1, Door #2, Door #3?

A free series of Padilla Bay Stakeholder Engagement Workshops? An autographed copy of the Compleat Testimony of Shirene Hale (annotated)? A long string of dried pond scum from the East Sound Mosquito Hatchery? An emergency appointment to the Conservation District Board of Supervisors?

A breathless public awaits ... No wait. Wait, hey folks its Randy Gaylord, come on down, and Let's Make a Deal!

10/4 (Gotta love that) and the early bird at 5:54 you provoke this comment:

I think you are right with the glued to the TV/video/phone thing getting in the way of any real thought on the part of many.

So why is it OK for the County to simply put out a web site with the Planning Commissions recommendations on it and call it good.

Why is it a resident's responsibility to learn computer graphics, to learn how to travel a very difficult web to understand and see how these recommendations affect them.

And they do affect them, Brian! Spot zoning in many jurisdictions is illegal for the simple reason it gives different property owners in a likened district an advantage or disadvantage based on no real or easily defined differences in the properties so zoned.

As much as possible, land within a zoning classification should be treated equally.

I feel strongly the County has a responsibility to give property owners a heads up on the Planning Commissions recommendations, YES anyone with a proposed change in land use on THEIR LAND should get an official letter from the County explaining the change...NOT referring them to some F'ing web site!

Is it not about time this County spent some money on taking care of those who write the checks at the end of this month?

Ohhh Boo fucking hoo...Mr. Cooter tries to begin with a rant against Paul Anderson (something I admire) and then tries to turn it into a typical rant by a libtard (see definitions above) against evil republicans...listen Cooter...in what fucking universe do you think $16,000,000,000 of debt is a good idea? Exactly what economic principle can you cite that encourages someone drowning in debt to triple their debt? What fucking retard thinks a bunch of career politicians should take control of the health system? You try to smear the republicans, but it was Pelosi and Reid that passed Obama-care at midnight without allowing anyone to read the bill...Cooter, do you think that's a good idea? Do you call that responsible? Cooter, do us a favor and stay busy with the Huffington Post and leave the thinking that requires intelligence and insight to us.

Let me correct that Cooter $16,000,000,000 of debt, if only we had just $16 billion of debt...but hey, after $16 trillion I suppose the next number is $16 bazillion, or some other ridiculous number libtards such as yourself will concoct to identify how much of MY money you steal to give to illegal aliens, criminals, welfare moms, disability scammers, the MRC, LIO, and the FOSJ.

Reach out to take their proffered hand, and they'll chop yours off ... won't they? Millions of bloodsucking zombie freeloader Demoncrats clamoring to get into online health exchange websites that opened on the morning the National Parks closed down.

But typically, the Federal government can't even keep a web server running properly.

Yes...they are everywhere...using the IRS to intimidate their political rivals, funneling weapons illegally to Al Qaida in Syria, allowing our ambassadors to be murdered without lifting a hand but "What Does It Matter?!" Here's a news flash for you Cooter, there is a 95% chance Paul Anderson is a libtard democrat, along with all of those with him that day - you cannot separate the democratic party from eco-fascism, it is their means of gaining absolute control and to achieve the dictatorship they have always dreamed of - that's why your wonderful Obama uses the NSA to snoop on you, why his lackeys use the IRS to intimidate, why he uses executive orders to create "national monuments".

Wow. Is this Cooter guy related to alderton or Dorf? Seems like the cars he is claiming were violating some yellow tape were actually parked on the county road. Love the Misdiected anger and cheap failed partisan attack by a wannabe hack. What a fuggin herb this cooter. BTW. I'm going walking on South Beach

Anyone see the rant by Norris Palmer in the guardian? Wow. How unoriginal and entirely parroted extreme leftist slanted talking points. Someone needs to tell ole Norris that most people don't believe the bullshit that the MSM spews. What a fucking tool. Pure douchery.

Interesting how this definition steers clear of party affiliation, as it should. Please use the term properly here. That goes for all you knuckle dragging Neanderthal lame ass neocon assholes who have train-wrecked the once noble Party of Lincoln and hijacked it to Pluto.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=libtard

Libtard

As repetitive as it sounds, it stands for "liberal retard."

A libtard wants to live in a fantasy world (in which life is the way that they WISH IT WAS) as opposed to dealing with life the way it actually is.

(This explains the religious fervor that many of them demonstrate when it comes to smoking pot).

The most idealistic libtard envisions a time when science/technology and Socialism will eliminate all poverty, hunger, war, disease, injustice, unemployment and prejudice. (It is a nice pipe dream but human nature will forever stand in the way of that goal).

Most libtards subscribe to the notion that "people are basically good", and build their foundation for activism and "improving the human condition" on that faulty premise. Because they deny the facts about human nature, their "reasoning" is diametrically opposite to common sense (blue states vs. red states).

The reality that people have different initiative levels, are basically selfish, and often work for their own interests before helping others, puts a libtard's panties in a wad. So, when citizens will not voluntarily comply with various libtard prescriptions for "the common good", then laws must be passed, or force used, to MAKE them comply. (It is the gradual path to totalitarianism).

Well, they are state ferries in a state highway system but you know, if NOAA can't enforce Orca protection right now, then the government must necessarily proceed with an abundance of caution (and we know what that means) and call in the border patrol to seal things off. Since all the islands are critical and we're all inside a marine protected area, and inside a BLM management area, blah blah ...

Anyone suggest permanently closing the national park service and return the land to the states that are in geographic possession of said land. If we aren't careful, these clowns might use national parks as collateral to get more loans from the Chinese govt. (and anyone else who buys bonds). Just a thought. Transfer the equipment, staff, phone numbers to the State parks service. Seems really easy.

@4:52 Thats not half bad of an idea. Imagine of the FOSJ spent the same amount of time, effort, and money lobbying and suing people in an continued activist manner, they could help bring a halt to the ongoing raw sewage disclose in to the Salish sea. Imagine that?

Is it true that we spend half a million annually "selling" the San Juan islands to tourists in Seattle and Portland? And now they want an increase spending to make sure that our tourists are appropriately "green"?

Visitor Education/Stewardship•Add more content to the Green Travel/“Leave Only Footprints” section of our website, in order to prepare visitors before arriving, and expand upon our message to include information regarding car-less travel, stewardship principles, etc.,

•Continue to work with writers/editors to insure articles educate and inspire adherence to stewardship principles.

•Research new ideas and partners for visitor education projects.

So we're paying to increase the number of tourists (because so few people are aware of the islands) and at the same time we're going to be make those who are looking for a vacation rather than a "stewardship" lesson feel less welcome? Oh well, anything to employ more "stewardship" types.

Have to agree with Steyn on this one: "... if any National Parks Service employee retained enough sense of his own humanity to balk at these instructions or other spiteful, petty closures of semi-wilderness fishing holes and the like, we’ve yet to hear about it."

To put into perspective how out of wack things are around here. Just imagine if you were to propose spending that much money to promote building you dream retirement home here. Gee I wonder if they have grants for that? But tourist, we have to promote that so we are overrun for 12 weeks a year.

Remember that saying "couldn't even get elected dog catcher"??Let's make sure to get out the vote and keep Howie from ever holding elected office. Period. Let him know his abysmal failure will not be rewarded.

As the South Beach shutdown plays out, many thanks to the IG for their work on this one, let us all push our 100' (+ - ) out on both sides. Let us all have fun with the puppies, building the drift houses, just generally being folks on OUR beach!

Keep it clean and tidy as usual and as any flack jacket approaches: "Wow where have you been, we're out of doggie bags, got any?"

I am of the opinion that all park rangers that shuttered and "guarded" parks during this sequester should be fired and ostracized from the communities they clearly abused. These are despicable actions by depraved sociopaths. Ranger, you shame everyone with a badge.

So we have Delendork once again assuming anyone gives a shit about his opinion and demanding Mike Carlson, Tim Blanchard, and John Lackey answer his questions...so I also want some answers Mr. Delendork1. Don't you and your screech owl wife have something better to do than bother the rest of us?2. Who are you to demand anything from anyone?3. Where was your concern for conflict of interest when your frothing-at-the-mouth supporter of the FOSJ wife was on the PC?

The interesting thing about the concern about Blanchard, Carlson, Lackey, is all three are qualified and productive engaged members of the Planning Commission and their "conflict of interest" is certainly less than those doing the complaining. (I suppose we still have free speech and association in this country.)

First up we have the notable, for nothing, attorney for FOSJ who sits in a public position to advance the FOSJ agenda and then has the gall to whine about those who sacrifice thought, time and effort, to advance the PUBLIC agenda.

Next, the ELECTED prosecuting attorney almost always a fellow traveler in supporting FOSJ and their march to find every tiny thing wrong with this place and anyone who would dare have an opinion in reasonable opposition.

Well, at least we can vote this guy out. I certainly will do so.

Lastly, we have the true believers who when the phone rings with Stephanie on the other end, they not only answer, but as directed grind out some hopelessly inaccurate letter to the editor of the always willing Journal Of The San Juans. (When will these editors stop laughing and tire of making fools out of these poor souls?)

Dear FOSJ, please publicly publish ALL the donors, volunteers, and official members of your organization so the public can see for themselves how many of you are on all the various committees and boards that actively pursue public funds and grants, that are actively engaged in public policy decisions, are engaged in influencing public policy, or actively sue their fellow islanders, so that we the public can better understand your possible "conflicts of interests" in all of these areas.

I'll begin holding my breath now.

Delendork...go dork yourself on your own time please and while you're at it why don't you and your socialist screech-owl wife, your gimp Jamie I-let-Rhea-strap-on-sodomize-me Stephens, dork off to somewhere else?

@10:31I don't think we can be harsh enough, these poor excuses for humans wade into small communities all around the U.S., not just here, and begin a systematic campaign of political corruption, litigation, and intimidation in order to drive away middle class hard working people, or enslave them into cycles of poverty while offering them eco-hovels to live in while they go about attempting to create their eco-utopia. These evil doers are the communist party, they have given themselves a new name "environmentalists" and so avoid the obvious scrutiny they deserve, but make no mistake, they are working toward the goal they have always wanted: STATE CONTROL of every aspect of your life - so harsh? Maybe, maybe not harsh enough.

Well yeah, some of these guys do sorta strut and fret there hour on the stage as if their are Pulp Fiction characters, that's true.

That is a bit harsh and also maybe not harsh enough. But let's watch our language eh kiddies? Islanders can do better than this methinks.

But I'd love to see Quentin Tarrantino take on a movie project someday maybe could be called "The Rape of Rural America."

Filmed in the San Juan Islands. Been awhile since Free Willy and Practical Management. The Visitor Bureau should start attracting film makers to make some use of the ghost towns our communities are being reduced to.